Abstract [en]

In industries, the management tools of Lean Production are used to develop and streamline operations in a way to reduce waste and lead times in all processes. Parker PMDE in Trollhättan manufactures hydraulic machines. Since the 90´s, Parker has pursued business development under the management principles of Lean Production. One of the next steps in Parkers continuous improvement was to explore opportunities to develop a kitting department so that a worker could provide the assembly with the material quickly without surplus resources. In the current situation, there is an imbalance from the kitting station towards the tact times in the assembly station because it takes longer at the kitting station to pick materials for four hydraulic machines, than it takes for the assembly station to consume these kits of materials.The aim of the thesis was to develop suggestions for improvement where a worker could perform the kitting process in less than 16 minutes. The interim objectives were to do a survey of the times and activities within the kitting process. The boundaries of the project was not to examine processes outside the kitting station. The project was designed according to DMAIC methodology, which is a project model for fact-based problem solving and clear structure. The methods used in the data collection were observation and analysis of video footage applying the software called AviX Method. Video recordings were categorized as different activities in the kitting process such as transport, picking, scanner time, pre-assembly and uncategorized time. Activities that were time consuming and did not add value to the process were identified. These data measures were the basis for the solution proposals.Based on these results and using brainstorming, solution proposals were generated together with the engineers and material handlers. The solution proposals that met the objective of the project of picking a 4-set of materials in 16 minutes were: Pick by voice, Pick-by-light, Ring Scanner and Relocation of one pre-assembly operation. Pick by voice is considered to be the most appropriate solution for the company since it reduces picking times, scanning times and is a flexible system. Two more proposed solutions were developed that did not meet the objective of the project, but are considered worth investigating further based on Lean Production and ergonomic reasons. These proposed solutions consisted of changing the picking route and the installation of a magnetic lift.